(Reuters) – Monsanto Co (MON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a 6 percent drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday, but shares of the world’s largest seed company climbed more than 5 percent as it raised the low end of its fiscal-year outlook and said it planned to double earnings over the next five years.

The company also announced a $10 billion share repurchase authorization.

Monsanto, known for its development of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and other crops as well as for the popular Roundup herbicide, said that although earnings for the third quarter ended May 31 were down in the face of challenging market conditions, the overall outlook was bright. Chairman Hugh Grant said the company aimed by the end of fiscal 2019 to at least double full-year ongoing earnings, which exclude certain special after-tax items.

(Reuters) – A Michigan radio personality, known for his work on “family friendly” Christian broadcasts, was due in court Monday on charges of paying a middleman to arrange sexual encounters with young boys, authorities said.

John Balyo, 35, of Caledonia, Michigan, was arrested Friday on state charges of criminal sexual conduct with a child under the age of 13, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Michigan State Police, according to a statement issued by ICE.

(Reuters) – A Missouri man who ran into trouble with police when shooting his gun on his family’s property and then was ordered to take a video of the incident off the Internet has won an apology from the local police chief and settled his lawsuit against the chief, attorneys for the gun owner said on Wednesday.

In the May 2013 incident in the southeast Missouri village of Kelso, the police chief, Jerry Bledsoe, arrived at the home of gun owner Jordan Klaffer’s mother in response to a noise complaint lodged when Klaffer was target shooting.

(Reuters) – A man sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of two friends of his ex-girlfriend lost his bid for an 11th-hour reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for the state to carry out his execution by lethal injection early on Wednesday.

The high court in Washington rejected four separate applications for a stay of execution filed late on Tuesday by attorneys for John Winfield, 43, hours after a federal appeals court vacated a lower-court order blocking the death sentence.

(Reuters) – Missouri should fund and operate its own drug laboratory to mix lethal injections for executions, a move that could help circumvent the problems it and other states are having obtaining the drugs they need, the state’s top prosecutor said on Thursday.

Setting up a state laboratory would take compounding pharmacies out of the system, and eliminate the secrecy about where lethal injections drugs are coming from, said Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.

May 27 (Reuters) – Questions about Roundup, the world’s most
popular herbicide, are on the agenda at the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Tuesday when regulators meet with a group of
mothers, scientists, environmentalists and others who say they
are worried about Roundup residues found in breast milk.

The meeting near Washington D.C., follows a five-day phone
call blitz of EPA offices by a group called “Moms Across
America” demanding that the EPA pay attention to their demands
for a recall of Roundup.

(Reuters) – Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett was released from jail early Thursday after running into trouble with the law in a Minneapolis airport.

Jarrett, 59, was arrested by airport police Wednesday afternoon in an airport restaurant and bar for not cooperating with officers. One reason for the arrest was cited as a “tab charge,” according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department.

May 20 (Reuters) – A group of retired pro football players
sued the National Football League on Tuesday, saying they were
illegally fed painkillers and told to play while injured to keep
massive profits flowing to the league for three decades.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco,
could turn into another black eye for the NFL, which last year
agreed to pay $760 million to thousands of former players who
filed suit claiming the league downplayed the risk of
concussions.

About Carey

"Generalist/Commodities, with responsibilities for coverage of agricultural markets, issues and companies, including Monsanto and DuPont; as well as general and political news; and equities coverage of trucking and rail companies. Provide backstop for Treasury as needed."